AM I a "true" football fan?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

So, the Champions League draw has just been made and meh.....

I'm never interested in watching Inter vs Real Madrid. Or AC Milan vs Barcelona or even Arsenal vs Man Utd. Couldn't care less.

Now, if the score in some way effects Tottenham (eg league) then I'm interested in teh score but as for watching a "beautiful game of football" or whatever then I'm not interested.

I've NEVER rushed home from work thinking "oooh it's Arsenal vs Real Madrid tonight - I can't wait to see Ronaldo, Eduardo, David Villa, Torres, Drogba" etc etc etc etc. It holds NO emotional interest to me whatsoever and I don't care about watching two teams I don't even like.

Yeah in theory I can "fully appreciate" the match if I'm not cheering for one side...But ugh. All sport is better if you're cheering for one side...In the same way that poker is better if you play for real money.

Now if the Premiership or a cup game is on and I've got nothing else to do then yeah I may have it playing and watch a bit, but I'd rather watch Gillingham (my local team) playing Colchester in the league than AC Milan vs Inter Milan.

Last year the only game outside of Spurs or Gillingham that raised some excitement inside of me was when Villa beat Newcastle to send them down.

So the question is, do true fans love to watch games with superstars to appreciate the skill and marvel in the ability, or do they have a much narrower field of interest and give everything for the team/s they care about and ignore a lot of the rest....Or is everyone as true a fan as everyone else?

EDIT:

Aside 1 - Went to see Nagoys Grampus Eight play earlier in the year. It was kinda fun and nice they won but it didn't excite me.

Aside 2 - Spurs vs West Ham last week I watched at mine with a fellow Spurs fan and Chelsea fan. After Carlton Cole's goal went in I was totally gutted. The other two were discussing how good a strike it was and while I inwardly agreed I couldn't bring myself to outwardly accept it until after the game when Spurs had won.

[BillionDollarChamp]

I watch every live game on sky, except for the SPL and League 2 matches they show as those leagues arn't the best, can't wait for the Champions League to start especially after the draws the english teams got

[stokeriño]

You have no idea how glad I am that this thread isn't the kind of pretentious shit I imagined it could be, having spotted the link from the main page.

Of course if I could have seen it was created by Hamsta, I would never have doubted him. >_>

Eh, I only watch games with teams I support (i.e. Chelsea/England). Largely because when I weigh up how important 90+ minutes of my time is, miscellaneous football doesn't cut it. I imagine this is one of the more common stances on the matter...

[K]

Fans who support one team are marks. The fans who appreciate the beautiful game are the smarks. And I think we all know which is cooler. :smug:

[Captain Kirk]

If it's not Rangers or Man City I can't get right in to a game, sure I'll watch games if they're on but they don't really excite me.

[Baddar]

I'll watch anything United are involved in.

If United had to go through the CL qualifying stages and won 2-0 at Celtic Park in the first leg, I'd still watch the second leg, most definitely. I didn't bother watching Arsenal-Celtic last night though, because I felt the game was pretty much over, and because it wasn't my team there wasn't an urge to watch it.

And I try to watch as much PL football as possible, regardless of what the game is. If there's nothing better on, you can bet I'm watching Hull vs. Birmingham, or something along those lines.

[Darloboy]

I'll watch pretty much any football on TV, from La Liga to the Blue Square Premier. I don't think not being interested in games that don't involve your team(s) makes you less of a fan of football. And personally I often enjoy watching lower league games over Premier League and Champions League.

[Crybaby Bunting]

I'll happily watch a small match, simply because I don't have sky so rarely see big matches (or many matches at all)

But I'll usually need one or two mates round to make it extra interesting.. England friendlies have been removed from my schedule because they're not worth wasting 90 minutes over. Watching a complete squash match or two small teams completely going at it in a must win match is still as satisfying as ever to watch.

I think a match is only interesting if you have background knowledge going into it. Chelsea Vs Liverpool last year was insanely fun to watch, just because you really thought that either team could come back from an unwinnable deficit. Sure there were loads of goals, but the key thing was that this would be the total decider it wouldn't have been anywhere as good if this was the first leg match.

Background knowledge could be anything: it could be that you're watching your or your friends favourite team, it could be that this is the total decider, it could just be that they're local rivals and you expect a heated confrontation. What matters is that if it's two teams that you couldn't really care about, in a group match that doesn't really affect anything.... then it isn't interesting. Athletico Madrid vs ... that team earlier ¬_¬ was full of goals... but I didn't care for either team so ended up leaving halfway through.

[Hobo]

If there is football on, generally I watch it. If not for a whole game just for a while. The only games I have had chances to watch and are those from the Northern Irish league.

[Blue Rosler]

Being a "true" fan would probably also mean the ladies FA Cup final and similar matches. I can only get into a match if it's a team or country I root for, or has a player I root for.

[METALMAN]

True fans support their local team. >_>

eh...I'm not really a true fan. I know hardly anything about teams other than Kilmarnock never mind watch them. I only watch Kilmarnock and Scotland games - though not always. I'll watch MOTD every now and then. Maybe once every couple of months and I'll watch big games like the cup final and Champions League final.

[Adam]

I can watch a game and get into it no matter who's in it really, there will usually be a team that I prefer to see win, but I'm always most concerned with my own teams games of course, and I don't watch a lot of live football, but watch all the league highlights programmes.

[Pesci]

I'll generally watch any match with Liverpool or Bristol City in it, I'll go to watch any match live, I'll watch any match with a side from the Top 10 in it and I'll watch matches between top European sides. Oh and I'll watch any match from international tournaments. So I guess I find it fairly easy to watch most football.

I don't think there's such a thing as a "true" football fan. Either you like football or you don't. If you do you're a fan, and if you don't you're not.

[Dynamite]

I'll watch every Man Utd match I can. I'll watch most Premier League matches that come on except the ones between two teams I don't like (Man City vs. Liverpool for example). I do find it hard to get into matches between teams I don't know much about so the majority of foreign and lower league matches have no real appeal to me.

I do consider myself a big football fan with a wide enough knowledge of football. It's just spending 90mins watching teams I don't care about can seem a bit of a waste a lot of the time sometimes unless it's an important match.

[Cactus Drags]

Fans who support one team are marks. The fans who appreciate the beautiful game are the smarks. And I think we all know which is cooler. :smug:

I don't see that the two have to be mutually exclusive.

[Skummy]

I only watch Hull City games out of choice, and occassionally England games, although international football bores me as much as any of the "big" clubs - I'd rather get behind grassroots sports than the top flight stuff, because mostly by that point I couldn't give a shit. Last season was the first time I've ever followed Premiership football, because Hull got up there, otherwise it's all moneyed shit.

[NotoriousGTT]

This is why gambling exists. So you can always support one team.

For what its worth if its not a Rangers game im not really that interested, i'll probably have it on in the background while im doing something else.

[Liam]

I tend to at least watch quarter of an hour of any football on TV, just to gauge if I fancy it. If there's nothing on, it almost becomes habitual for me to watch the football just as something to do.

[hackerjack]

Some people just have no interest outside their club, I got no problem with that. One of the problems with football is that it produces so little in actual enjoyable or exciting moments if you are not emotionally tied in with one team or another

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Some people just have no interest outside their club, I got no problem with that. One of the problems with football is that it produces so little in actual enjoyable or exciting moments if you are not emotionally tied in with one team or another

I'd disagree with that. There is enjoyment to be found outside of your own club it's just not the SAME.

Pretty much like every sport in fact.